1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for providing inhalation-air from dual compartment air-reservoir to a mask, and more particularly relates to an apparatus for switching in between a high concentration of oxygen and a contrasting low concentration of oxygen to provide selected concentration of oxygen a user.
2. Description of Related Art
Events that reduce the dissolved oxygen concentration in blood plasma induce adverse changes in health status. These changes are richly documented in the book Oxygen Multistep Therapy, by Manfred von Ardenne, herein included by reference, with a specific discussion of a vascular inflammatory mechanism within the first chapter, Physiological Mechanisms.
Short-term reductions in blood plasma oxygen concentration often cause endothelial inflammation, to create persistent, and often permanent vascular constrictions. These reductions often follow chemical, physical or emotional stress events. These constrictions reduce blood and oxygen delivery to downstream tissue causing tissue distress, disease vulnerability and accelerated degeneration.
Long-term reduction in plasma oxygen deprives avascular cells structures, like cartilage, ligaments, white blood cells, and lens of the eye, of oxygen, resulting in reduced elasticity, performance and healing capacity of avascular structures, including the vascular system itself. These plasma hypoxia conditions remain unrecognized and hence an in-actionable cofactor in many disorders.
Prior art systems utilize single air mixture, with a fixed oxygen partial pressure to administer extra oxygen to the body. Ardenne disclosed multiple methods of administering extra oxygen during physical challenge to increase the oxygen partial pressure of the respiratory mixture by using a fixed oxygen partial pressure in continuous delivery flow.
Ardenne also disclosed use of physical challenge as, exercise, heat, or pharmaceutical adrenal analogue to simultaneously up-regulate respiratory turbulence, as heart rate, and respiratory tidal volume. Increased respiratory turbulence caused more oxygen to dissolve in blood plasma resulting in a collection of methods to treat a plurality of health conditions that occurred as a consequence of blood plasma hypoxia.
Ardenne disclosed a fixed rate of supplemental oxygen during exercise ranging from 2-3 liters per minute to 50 liters per minute for athletes. It is known that for able-bodied individuals elevated rates of supplemental oxygen prevent the body from achieving maximum respiratory turbulence, and hence less than maximum achievable dissolved plasma oxygen.
Prior art systems that supply a fixed amount of extra oxygen during exercise increases oxygenation to only about half of what is achievable with the invention. The fixed elevation in oxygen partial pressure caused a net decrease in respiratory turbulence because extra oxygen makes it easier for the mammal's heart and lungs to meet respiratory demand.
This reduction in respiratory turbulence limits tissue perfusions because maximum heart rate and maximum arterial dilation are required to deliver maximum pulse pressure to capillaries. Exemplary tissue perfusion reflects the force of blood pumped by the heart, and the ability of oxygen enriched plasma to squirt past narrowed vascular narrow areas resulting from endothelial inflammation or injury.
The exemplary performance of the invention occurs when the mammal achieves a novel respiratory status of simultaneous maximum pulse and maximum oxygen partial pressure. This state is specifically induced when the briskly exerting mammal switches from a respiratory challenge status, respiratory mixture with reduced oxygen partial pressure, to respiratory recovery status, with a mixture with maximum oxygen partial pressure.
The novel exemplary effect occurs when the exerting mammal achieves simultaneous maximums of respiratory turbulence while breathing a mixture of maximum oxygen partial pressure. This occurs just after the switch from low oxygen partial pressure to high oxygen partial pressure. These moments, while the exerting mammal experiences of maximum heartbeat, with elevated oxygen partial pressure, create optimal conditions for tissue oxygen perfusion unachievable by any known prior art system.
These maximums are indicated by novel simultaneous physiological maximums: maximum oxygen tidal volume, maximum pulse rate, maximum oxygen partial pressure in the respiratory mixture, maximum force of blood in the venous structure, hypoxia induced vasodilation, all serve to create maximum force of blood pressure at the capillary entry, and hence maximal tissue blood perfusion for the mammal. It should be obvious to the skilled in the art that these simultaneous maximum conditions are unachievable by any prior art system due to the usage of single air concentration.
The novel achievement of these maximums produce rapid physiological effects from improved blood flow to organ systems and muscles throughout the body measured with pharmacological tests including mental performance. Therefore there is a need of an apparatus that reproduce physiological improvements disclosed by Ardenne, normally occurring in 36 hours using oxygen multistep methods, in approximately 15 minutes or less while providing two different concentrations of oxygen.
Further, the apparatus should provide more intense and more cumulative physiological improvements than those disclosed with prior art systems. Further, the apparatus should increase the testing of human athletic capacity increases dramatically and rapidly.
Many prior art systems utilize varying rates of oxygen delivery, but do not disclose use of contrasting air mixtures. There are three classifications of prior art systems, Oxygen Multistep, which delivers a fixed increase in oxygen partial pressure during exercise; hyperbaric which delivers a fixed level increased oxygen partial pressure at rest to the whole body; and hypoxic training systems that deliver a reduced partial pressure of oxygen at rest or during exercise to induce durable adaptive change for improved general oxygen utilization.
The key to dealing with blood plasma oxygen deficiency is to utilize the body's adaptive response to progressively contrasting altitudes. There have been various attempts at providing portable chambers that simulates different altitude to show the effects of increased altitude, and/or to obtain some of the advantages of simulating different altitudes for, e.g., athletic training. It has been used to train athletes for the purpose of improved athletic performance, pre-acclimatization to altitude and/or physical wellness.
In hypoxic chambers and exercise systems, the occupant is subjected to lower oxygen partial pressure such as to simulate high altitudes. It is well known to expose an exerting mammal to hypoxic conditions utilizing a respiratory mixture with a reduced oxygen partial pressure. This exposure creates beneficial vascular conditions known to improve distal tissue oxygenation. The beneficial effect normally occurs when a mammal adapts hypoxic conditions, which causes hypoxic vasodilation, and other effects.
Simultaneous hypoxic vasodilation with exertion causes increased pulse pressure at the capillary that squirts more blood through capillaries than normal. This enhanced pulse pressure improves tissue perfusion. The challenge in hypoxic exertion however, is that the blood plasma contains less oxygen than normal due to the reduced oxygen in the respiratory mixture. This reduction generally prevents oxygen dissolved the blood plasma from acting as an endothelial anti-inflammatory, as disclosed by Ardenne, and may provoke additional inflammation.
It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the exemplary aspect of the invention utilizes hypoxic conditions to establish the hypoxic vasodilation to establish maximum pulse pressure at the capillary, and then switches to a maximal oxygen partial pressure, to change from the reduced oxygen plasma oxygen partial pressure available with prior art hypoxic training systems, to an enhanced oxygen partial pressure by the increased oxygen partial pressure.
This switch condition creates exemplary and novel conditions at the distal tissue, which are unachievable by non-switching hypoxic training systems that solely utilize a reduced oxygen partial pressure, or even during the recovery process when the exerting mammal recovers from the hypoxic training by recovering to normal air. The exemplary aspect of the invention utilizes the vascular conditions created by hypoxic exertion, immediately followed by enhanced oxygen. It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the invention is therefore novel with respect to all forms of hypoxic training systems, and chambers.
Another type of simulation system includes hyperbaric chambers and are used in the medical and sports industries. In essence, occupants of hyperbaric chambers undergo hyperbaric treatments in which they are subjected to relatively high oxygen partial pressures. Hyperbaric treatments are known, amongst other things, to enhance muscular recuperation and to increase dissolved oxygen levels in body fluids.
Conventional hyperbaric chambers are typically made of rigid materials capable of withstanding pressure differentials. Accordingly, hyperbaric treatments are not commonly accessible and are often only available to elite-level athletes and selected patients.
However, prior art portable chambers have some shortcomings relative to the invention. Hyperbaric sessions have a physically slow response time, normally requiring 40 or more hours of use to produce a clinically measurable result. With the invention, equivalent, and usually superior results are achieved normally within about 3 minutes for able bodied users.
Hyperbaric chambers require whole body pressurization which often causes inner ear discomfort with most users. Physical encapsulation also causes claustrophobia for many users. Medical grade hyperbaric chambers require materials that cause them to cost at least 20× the amount of the invention. Medical hyperbaric administration requires one or two trained operators for safe administration health challenged individuals in a medical or professional context. Therefore, there is need of an apparatus to provide an enhanced form of exercise which is safe and easy to use for anyone capable of virtually any form of stationary exercise and does not require an administrator and can be used safely at home.
Hence, despite ongoing developments in the field of hyperbaric chambers, hypoxic breathing systems, and fixed mixture exercise with oxygen systems, there remains a need for a respiratory delivery system to create optimal physiological conditions for maximum oxygen partial pressure in blood plasma, and consequently tissue oxygen perfusion. This combination provides exemplary mitigation capacity of health conditions relating to plasma hypoxia, and inhibited tissue oxygen perfusion, and hence provides novel capacity to overcome shortcomings of prior art portable chambers used for hyperbaric and/or hypoxic treatments. These systems do not utilize rapidly switchable contrasting oxygen partial pressures of the invention. It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that prior art systems do not alone, or any practical combination, create the novel vascular conditions of the invention.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a more cost effective apparatus for providing controlled flow of inhalation-air from an air-reservoir to a mask that could better simulate contrasting altitudes, and in particular, easily simulate both lower and higher altitudes than the current altitude of a person. Further, the apparatus should be portable and should be set up at any place.